Amsouth Dumps Bond Businesses, Trims Card Holdings

In twin moves aimed at shedding troubled business lines, Amsouth Bancorp. is getting out of its bond administration and stock transfer businesses and selling part of its credit card portfolio.

The Birmingham, Ala., banking company said Monday it had a deal to transfer about 1,000 bond trustee and agency relationships to Bank of New York Co.

Amsouth refused to disclose details of the transaction but said it would not result in a gain.

Amsouth, with $19.4 billion of assets, has 700 trusteeships and is the paying agent for 300 bond issues. The businesses are profitable, said Amsouth spokesman James Underwood, but not growing fast enough.

A new Bank of New York office in Birmingham will take over the servicing and administration of all the transferred corporate and municipal accounts, Amsouth said.

In a separate transaction, the company said it will sell about $170 million of credit card receivables to Associates National Bank of Delaware, Md., for an undisclosed amount. Amsouth's total portfolio is $426 million.

The portfolio consists mostly of accounts that were acquired through direct mail solicitations and bought from other banks, Mr. Underwood said.

Interstate/Johnson Lane analyst Marguerite E. Sons said the sale was a way for Amsouth to deal with a recent history of high chargeoffs.

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